10 The days H3117 of our years H8141 are threescore H7657 years H8141 and ten; H7657 and if by reason of strength H1369 they be fourscore H8084 years, H8141 yet is their strength H7296 labour H5999 and sorrow; H205 for it is soon H2440 cut off, H1468 and we fly away. H5774
I am this day H3117 fourscore H8084 years H8141 old: H1121 and can I discern H3045 between good H2896 and evil? H7451 can thy servant H5650 taste H2938 what H834 I eat H398 or what H834 I drink? H8354 can I hear H8085 any more the voice H6963 of singing men H7891 and singing women? H7891 wherefore then should thy servant H5650 be yet a burden H4853 unto my lord H113 the king? H4428
Now king H4428 David H1732 was old H2204 and stricken H935 in years; H3117 and they covered H3680 him with clothes, H899 but he gat no heat. H3179
But man H1397 dieth, H4191 and wasteth away: H2522 yea, man H120 giveth up the ghost, H1478 and where is he?
And Jacob H3290 said H559 unto Pharaoh, H6547 The days H3117 of the years H8141 of my pilgrimage H4033 are an hundred H3967 and thirty H7970 years: H8141 few H4592 and evil H7451 have the days H3117 of the years H8141 of my life H2416 been, and have not attained H5381 unto the days H3117 of the years H8141 of the life H2416 of my fathers H1 in the days H3117 of their pilgrimage. H4033
They are exalted H7426 for a little while, H4592 but are gone and brought low; H4355 they are taken out H7092 of the way H1870 as all other, and cut off H5243 as the tops H7218 of the ears of corn. H7641
While the sun, H8121 or the light, H216 or the moon, H3394 or the stars, H3556 be not darkened, H2821 nor the clouds H5645 return H7725 after H310 the rain: H1653 In the day H3117 when the keepers H8104 of the house H1004 shall tremble, H2111 and the strong H2428 men H582 shall bow H5791 themselves, and the grinders H2912 cease H988 because they are few, H4591 and those that look out H7200 of the windows H699 be darkened, H2821 And the doors H1817 shall be shut H5462 in the streets, H7784 when the sound H6963 of the grinding H2913 is low, H8217 and he shall rise up H6965 at the voice H6963 of the bird, H6833 and all the daughters H1323 of musick H7892 shall be brought low; H7817 Also when they shall be afraid H3372 of that which is high, H1364 and fears H2849 shall be in the way, H1870 and the almond tree H8247 shall flourish, H5006 and the grasshopper H2284 shall be a burden, H5445 and desire H35 shall fail: H6565 because man H120 goeth H1980 to his long H5769 home, H1004 and the mourners H5594 go about H5437 the streets: H7784 Or ever H3808 the silver H3701 cord H2256 be loosed, H7576 H7368 or the golden H2091 bowl H1543 be broken, H7533 or the pitcher H3537 be broken H7665 at the fountain, H4002 or the wheel H1534 broken H7533 at the cistern. H953 Then shall the dust H6083 return H7725 to the earth H776 as it was: and the spirit H7307 shall return H7725 unto God H430 who gave H5414 it.
Mine age H1755 is departed, H5265 and is removed H1540 from me as a shepherd's H7473 tent: H168 I have cut off H7088 like a weaver H707 my life: H2416 he will cut me off H1214 with pining sickness: H1803 from day H3117 even to night H3915 wilt thou make an end H7999 of me.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 90
Commentary on Psalms 90 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 90
The foregoing psalm is supposed to have been penned as late as the captivity in Babylon; this, it is plain, was penned as early as the deliverance out of Egypt, and yet they are put close together in this collection of divine songs. This psalm was penned by Moses (as appears by the title), the most ancient penman of sacred writ. We have upon record a praising song of his (Ex. 15, which is alluded to Rev. 15:3), and an instructing song of his, Deu. 32. But this is of a different nature from both, for it is called a prayer. It is supposed that this psalm was penned upon occasion of the sentence passed upon Israel in the wilderness for their unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion, that their carcases should fall in the wilderness, that they should be wasted away by a series of miseries for thirty-eight years together, and that none of them that were then of age should enter Canaan. This was calculated for their wanderings in the wilderness, as that other song of Moses (Deu. 31:19, 21) was for their settlement in Canaan. We have the story to which this psalm seems to refer, Num. 14. Probably Moses penned this prayer to be daily used, either by the people in their tents, or, at lest, by the priests in the tabernacle-service, during their tedious fatigue in the wilderness. In it,
Though it seems to have been penned upon this particular occasion, yet it is very applicable to the frailty of human life in general, and, in singing it, we may easily apply it to the years of our passage through the wilderness of this world, and it furnishes us with meditations and prayers very suitable to the solemnity of a funeral.
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
Psa 90:1-6
This psalm is entitled a prayer of Moses. Where, and in what volume, it was preserved from Moses's time till the collection of psalms was begun to be made, is uncertain; but, being divinely inspired, it was under a special protection: perhaps it was written in the book of Jasher, or the book of the wars of the Lord. Moses taught the people of Israel to pray, and put words into their mouths which they might make use of in turning to the Lord. Moses is here called the man of God, because he was a prophet, the father of prophets, and an eminent type of the great prophet. In these verses we are taught,
Psa 90:7-11
Moses had, in the foregoing verses, lamented the frailty of human life in general; the children of men are as a sleep and as the grass. But here he teaches the people of Israel to confess before God that righteous sentence of death which they were under in a special manner, and which by their sins they had brought upon themselves. Their share in the common lot of mortality was not enough, but they are, and must live and die, under peculiar tokens of God's displeasure. Here they speak of themselves: We Israelites are consumed and troubled, and our days have passed away.
Psa 90:12-17
These are the petitions of this prayer, grounded upon the foregoing meditations and acknowledgments. Is any afflicted? Let him learn thus to pray. Four things they are here directed to pray for:-